Fall Back

It happened again this November 7. In the wee hours of the morning, the clocks rolled back an hour.

Daylight savings time ended.

This time of year is hard for me. The daylight is already dwindling as the northern hemisphere tilts further from the sun. I live in southern Minnesota. The summer solstice provides us with 15 hours 30 minutes and 9 seconds of daylight. The winter solstice brings a measly 8 hours 59 minutes and 2 seconds of daylight, a 42% decrease. I am writing this on November 7 where we have 10 hours 1 minute and 50 seconds of daylight. Tomorrow, we will have 1 minute 19 seconds less daylight.

The shorter days are hard on me. I try to get more exercise, take vitamin D daily, and spend time outside whenever possible to help combat the shorter amount of daylight. The gut punch each fall comes when we “fall back” by setting our clocks back one hour. There is something about that shift of daylight from being in the evening hours to the morning hours that just knocks it out of me. For me, the extra hour of sleep isn’t worth it. I feel like I spend so much of my time in the dark because the sun sets before 5p now (4:56pm to be precise). The darkness makes is feel so late so early in the evening. I could crawl into bed at 8pm this time of year…and sometimes I do.

So I hunker down, drink more hot tea, find some good books to read, take double the vitamin D, make some hot soup, and wait for March 13, 2022 when we will spring forward and have daylight in the evening again.

References

Sunrise Sunset, (2014-2021). Sunrise Sunset Times in Austin, MN. https://sunrise-sunset.org/

(Yes, I looked up all of those hours of daylight and sunsets.)